The Well-Appointed Desk

Ana and I were gobsmacked today by the press release that the Mitsubishi Pencil Company has acquired LAMY! If you hadn’t heard, or read the release yet, go do it. Then come back and let’s chat.

Lamy Safari Candy Collection

Ok, so I’m the first person to admit that I haven’t really been enamored with the LAMY Safari or the AL-Star. I have a slight preference for the metal bodied AL-Star, but in general I find the angled grip uncomfortable. However I have used quite a few of their other pens and enjoyed them through the years. I also love that the nibs are interchangeable on a lot of the pens and that they are so easy to buy and switch out.

That said, I feel like what we’ve seen in the last few years, particularly in colorways of the year is a lot of recycling and renaming. I can’t argue with wanting to collect all the colors – who doesn’t need a rainbow of pens? But this years Safaris look an awful lot like Vibrant Pink and Dark Lilac. Even if the inks are different, body colors feel really familiar. Same with the 2023 editions – anyone remember the ever so slightly paler pastels (which reminded me of Jordan almonds). I wonder if new ownership will breathe some life back into the brand?

What do you think? We want to know!

In Link Love

Link Love: ‘Nother Week, ‘Nother Pen Show

AnaFebruary 28, 2024February 27, 20241 Comment

Feels like just yesterday that I unpacked from the California Pen Show and tomorrow I hop on a plane and head to Baltimore for the next show on the jam-packed pen show calendar. If you are going to be at the show, please come by and say hello to me and Jesi. We will be hidden behind the giant ink racks at the Dromgoole’s tables. I can’t wait to bring the ink party to Baltimore. It will be my first trip to the Baltimore Show since 2020!

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In Paper Review

Review and GIVEAWAY: OEDA letterpress Two Color Paper Notebook

Laura CameronFebruary 27, 2024February 27, 202459 Comments

One of my favorite things about pen shows is that even if I don’t get to go, Ana always brings home fun stuff to review. This week I’m checking out OEDA Letterpress Two (and 5) Color Paper Notebooks ($15-24.00 via Dromgoole’s)

If you love testing fun new paper, wouldn’t you love it if there were multiple papers in a single notebook? These Traveler-sized OEDA notebooks contain blank paper in 2 or 5 different colors. In the two color books, paper alternates between white and natural every five pages, for a total of 50 pages. The five color books contain 5 different types of paper (8 sheets each 40 in total): Buff Paper, Tracing Paper, Half Air Paper, Wax Paper and Bumpel Paper. What is Bunpel paper? A quick google search suggests that it is a type of craft paper that feels textured. The covers on all the books are board paper, available in beige, craft or brown (2 color) or navy/tan (5 color).

So how does the paper handle fountain pen ink? The answer is pretty darn well. The paper is highly textured, but doesn’t feather or bleed with different inks. The one thing I will say is that the paper is fairly thin (not quite Hobonichi Tomoe) and there is quite a bit of show through. If you’re someone who likes using the front and the back of the page, this may be a concern. But it may not!

Now for the most important part: the GIVEWAY!

Two lucky winners will each receive an OEDA Letterpress Two Color Paper notebook PLUS a gorgeous calendar designed by Ana and printed by Skylab Letterpress, plus a big of swag from us.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me, what is your favorite paper? Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday, March 1, 2024. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this giveaway were provided to us free of charge by Dromgoole’s and Skylab. Please see the About page for more details.

In Planners & Organizers

February to March Planner Status

AnaFebruary 26, 2024February 26, 20241 Comment

I can’t believe March is just around the corner! Since I will be in Baltimore for the Pen Show on March 1, I spent Sunday reviewing my planning/journal set-up and deciding what I want to do for the month of March.

But first, let’s review a few pages of my February planning/journaling.

I enjoyed my red/pink color scheme for February. Leading up to Valentine’s Day, it felt celebratory and afterwards, the bright happy colors helped make February a little less grey.

In the time I was in LA, I was able to add a few tip-in tidbits that made up for a lack of time to write. I included a petal from a lovely tree, some receipts and luggage tags and some paper samples from various vendors at the show.

While I wish I had had more time to write and keep track of events throughout the month, I do like the overall look and feel as I get to the end of the month.

I definitely feel like I have a formula to keep me writing and reaching for my planner. I add a few stickers, my date washi sticker and then write the date with a brush pen or marker. Then I write around the stickers. I try to put the stickers/date in different places on the page each day so that the book doesn’t get too thick in one spot. This also makes the page more interesting. If I don’t write much, I will add additional stickers, washi tape or bits of paper afterwards to make the page feel full. Sometimes, I leave a gap. No one really sees my book but me (and you).

Moving into March, I’ve decided to focus on purple as my color theme. March is another month that can be grey and cold and rainy and I am racing to hit a deadline at work so I need some cheery colors to keep me engaged and taking time to write.

I really didn’t have any purple washi tape. I have one roll with unicorns from Heather Ross (from 2021) and a decorative gemstone collage roll from MT. I’ve added in grey, yellow and aqua for some variety and the Bande Masking Tape Temari ($7). I also pulled from floral and nature stickers from my collection of sticker books that coordinated.

Stickers selected for March:

12 Monthly Planner Date Sticker Sheets ($6.99 via Amazon)
The Botanist’s Sticker Anthology ($14.49 via Amazon)
The Forests, Fairies and Fungi Sticker Anthology ($20.65 via Amazon)

As for pens, I made a purchase from JetPens last month so fill out my purple pen collection.

Pens under consideration for March:

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pen in Lilac ($1.80)
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pen in Mauve ($1.80)
Staedtler Triplus Textsurfer in Lavender ($2.65)
Marvy Le Pen Flex Brush Pen in Wisteria ($2.10)
Marvy Le Pen Flex Brush Pen in Amethyst ($2.10)
Uni-ball One Gel Pen 0.38 mm in Plum Purple ($1.90)
Zebra Sarasa Nano Gel Pen 0.3 mm in Bordeaux Purple ($2.95)
Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen in Pink Purple ($2.50)
Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen in Violet ($2.50)
Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen in Light Violet ($2.50)

and because no month is complete without a little green:

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pen in Sea Green ($1.80)

If you’re curious, the total tally for my markers was $24.60. I don’t think it’s necessary to buy $25 in pens every month. In fact, after testing, I think I’ll probably carry two brush pens, a felt tip or two and the Sarasa Nano in Bordeaux Purple and that will give me enough variation without having to carry too much with me day-to-day. Hopefully, in subsequent months, I’ll be selecting pens from my collection.

And finally, I will be using Monteverde Birthday Cake in my favorite Nagasawa Sailor Pro Gear Slim.

What’s your plan to keep yourself inspired to plan, journal or write?

In photo

Yarn + Ink: Wild Thing

Laura CameronFebruary 23, 2024February 22, 20244 Comments

Sometimes, when you want to work on a crafty project you grab all the colors to see what works well together. And sometimes you never know until you start knitting. In this week’s chicken knitting chronicles, my boss handed me a skein of some WILD yarn and asked me to knit it up so she could decide if it was a mess or the next big thing. Seemed like a perfect time for an ink palette no?

So what do you think? Are these colors you would use together?

And for a little Friday earworm…

In feature, news

California Pen Show Wrap-Up

AnaFebruary 23, 2024February 22, 20246 Comments

Another pen show is now in the past – the California/LA pen show. Last week I joined the Dromgooles and Ana “Well-Appointed Desk” Reinert for several days in LA surrounded by pens, ink, paper, and an amazing group of people.

However, California wasn’t as sunny as I thought it would be…

Inside the hotel, however, I found Ana’s sunny face!

Of course, we had to dress alike. It’s important to pick a dress with pockets.

Ink. Everywhere. It’s hard to believe that the two and a half shelves of Wearingeul ink were eventually reduced to barely half of a single shelf.

Ink shelves are so beautifully neat and tidy just before the start of a pen show!

Stay tuned – the Baltimore show is the next stop over on the opposite coast starting March 1. Who will be joining us?

My question for everyone here – I have stood much new ink to fit into one single post. What should I review first? Wearingeul Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Anna Karenina, or Persephone? Ferris Wheel Press Sugar and Spite, ColorVerse Blue Dragon, Dominant Industry Old Man and the Sea, or Lamy Blackberry?

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In feature

Link Love:

AnaFebruary 22, 2024February 22, 2024Leave a comment

(Re-entry after a pen show weekend is tough. You’ve got the Pen Show weekend hangover and you don’t know what day it is. All that is to say, apologies your Link Love is a day late! XOXO)

After my post last week about the thicker paper journals, there were a lot questions and curiosity about how similar the journals with Olive & Archer and other brands. All About Planners did a comprehensive comparison of the 160gsm (or higher) complete with a spreadsheet. Hopefully, that post will answer some of the other questions about this hefty paper journals.